A roller coaster heads into a circular loop with radius 5m .
If the coaster is moving at10 m/s at the top of the loop, what is the centripetal acceleration in m/s^2 ?
To find the centripetal acceleration at the top of the loop, we can use the equation for centripetal acceleration:
ac = (v^2) / r
where ac is the centripetal acceleration, v is the velocity, and r is the radius.
Given:
v = 10 m/s (velocity)
r = 5 m (radius)
Plug the values into the formula:
ac = (10^2) / 5
= 100 / 5
= 20 m/s^2
The centripetal acceleration at the top of the loop is 20 m/s^2.